The little boy in green is so happy with his shiny black eyes full of hope. He's got a sword in his hand and a cap full of wind and he doesn't even flinch when the cold seawater splashes his face. The sails ripple in the strong wind and the hole world seems to smile. He's not afraid of anything.
ooo
He comes from the island clutching the orange pearl to his chest, but his smile isn't quite as wide as it was before. The king looks away.
ooo
It's the middle of the night on the ocean, and he's not afraid of anything except for the dark and the cold and the way the monsters scream when he drives the sword into their bellies. He makes them all the same entity in his mind, all unforgivable evil creatures that took his sister, but that doesn't change the way look laying on the floor bleeding out. The knig doesn't notice him crying the first night, but he notices the night after that, and the night after that, and the night after that.
ooo
Link's all smiles when Aryll is rescued. The day is bright again. It's almost like the first day on his adventure.
ooo
Link's stopped looking sad after he comes out of dungeons. When he leaves the Wind Temple, he even looks happy. He's smeared with blood, some from monsters and some from himself, but he's got the innocent smile of a little boy filling up his face. The king is relieved. Absent-mindedly, as Link unfurls the sails, he asks him what makes him so happy.
The boy's grin widens a notch and he replies, "When we were in there, there were so many monsters. And I killed them all. And when I left and came back, they were back, so I killed them again."
He leans forward so his mouth is by the king's wooden ear and whispers, "Some of them, I even got to see what they looked like on the inside."
ooo
The king knows he should be concerned.
But the boy is just so much more efficient this way.
ooo
It's over. The final battle is over, and everyone is saved.
Except not the boy really because he has to leave forever now.
He guesses he should be sad. But he doesn't really know what to feel anymore because all he knows now is killing. His fingers always itch for a sword, and he doesn't really feel alive without blood on his skin. Doesn't matter who the blood belongs to.
He waves goodbye to everyone and half of him laughs and the other half, the half that was shelved long ago because it didn't work as part of a hero, cries and cries and cries.
The little boy watches the sails unfurl. He's on a new adventure, and he's got a sword in his hand and a cap full of wind. Only the whole world doesn't seem to smile. HE guesses it's because he's not a kid anymore, not really, anyway, and sits with the Princess, feeling the sun on his back.
